Spinogenix Announces Grant by DOD to Advance ALS Drug Candidate

Spinogenix will be collaborating with Dr. Rita Sattler at the Barrow Neurological Institute and Dr. Justin Ichida at the USC Keck School of Medicine on a grant awarded from the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DOD) Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) to evaluate its lead development candidate in ALS. The DOD grant will be used to study the effects of Spinogenix’s lead compound in human iPSCs (induced pluripotent stem cells) from patients with ALS and from healthy volunteers. Additional experiments will be conducted in animal models of ALS.

Spinogenix’s lead drug candidate has a unique mechanism of action wherein it induces an increase in synapses, the key connections between neurons that allow us to think, plan, remember and control motor functions, faculties that are diminished in neurodegenerative diseases including ALS.

“We are pleased that the DoD has recognized the potential of our novel drug candidate to change the course of disease progression in ALS,” Stella Sarraf, Ph.D., Founding Chief Executive Officer at Spinogenix said.

There is an unmet need for new innovative therapeutics for ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) which is almost invariably fatal within 3-5 years of diagnosis. The therapies that are currently approved for ALS provide very modest extension of life of several months and are not well tolerated by all patients.

“Spinogenix’s novel approach has the potential to demonstrate that replacing lost synapses may result in drugs that can provide a meaningful benefit for patients with ALS,” Dr. Merit Cudkowicz, Director of the Sean M. Healey and AMG Center for ALS at Mass General Hospital, said.